Lessons Learned from Jack LaLanne

Jack LaLanne, the father of the modern fitness movement, died Sunday afternoon at the young age of 96. I spent the last couple of days looking at clips of his TV show, and it was quite amazing how a lot of things he was saying 50 years ago are so relevant today.

For instance, LaLanne spoke a great deal about how processed foods were against "nature's laws." Back in the 1960s, Americans didn't have to deal with "factory farms" yet, but rather the rise of "TV Dinners," which was something LaLanne spoke strongly against. However, the packaged, frozen meals were only the beginning of the end of food.

From Wikipedia:

The freezing process tends to degrade the taste of food and the meals are thus heavily processed with extra salt and fat to compensate. In addition, stabilizing the product for a long period typically means that companies will use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for some (typically dessert) items, which are high in trans fats that can adversely affect cardiovascular health. The dinners are almost always significantly less nutritious than fresh food and are formulated to remain edible after long periods of storage, thus often requiring preservatives such as BHT. There is, however, some variability between brands.

This is something he said about shopping smart at the supermarket. The man was ahead of his time. RIP